It wasn’t until the car ride back from the doctor’s office that it hit him. Tears streamed down Cole Erwin’s face as realization set in. His junior year football season would never be. No touchdowns. No comebacks. No overtime victories. No Friday night lights.

“It was all too fast,” junior Cole Erwin said. “Everything had changed in a twelve hour period of time.”

All of the work and preparation he had put into the upcoming season was now meaningless. The practice, the two-a-days, the weightlifting, the conditioning. All of it was gone.

“This is what I’d been dreaming about since I was 5-years-old,” Cole said. “It was hard on everyone to see it end just like that.”

***

It was a fine day at Forrester Field in Dallas. Evening shadows covered the far side of the field as the sun began to set across from the sidelines. The red and silver Marauders stood ready to square off against the red and blue Skyline Raiders in the season’s first scrimmage.

On 4th down, Cole drops back to pass. Scanning the field he finds that no one is open. All of his receivers are covered by Skyline defenders. The play clock in his head runs out. Instinctively, he knows his time is up. He scrambles out of the pocket, entering the large shadow on the far side of the field. In the open field he is confronted by an opponent. The space between the two lessens. He attempts to shake the defender. As he plants his left foot to make his move, his knee buckles. A throbbing pain shoots up his leg like a shockwave. Something wasn’t right.

After the play, Cole comes off the field, limping slightly but not shaken.

“Are you all right?” his coach and father Bryan Erwin asks.

“I’m fine, Dad,” Cole responds, not yet realizing the injury is serious.

According to his father, Cole had never been one to back down, and he wasn’t going to start now. Not returning to the game never even occurred to him. The very next drive, injured knee and all, Cole and the Marauders march down the field, capping off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Cole to his younger brother Cade.

“My knee didn’t really bother me,” Cole said. “I just shook it off. I’m not the type of person to let it affect me. I just play.”

As the brothers celebrate the score, Cole’s knee gives out.

His dad asked him for the second time if he was all right. Again Cole answered yes.

After the game, Cole was diagnosed with a sprained PCL, a ligament in the back of the knee that is next to the ACL. He would have an MRI the next Thursday to be sure of the injury.

***

 “Cole, you need to go down to the front office. Your dad is here to pick you up,” Pedrameh Manoochehri said, his second period teacher.

His heart sank at the words and an uneasy feeling enter his stomach.

“He must already have the MRI results back,” Cole thought.

He quickly took up his belongings and went down the stairs. His heart raced in apprehension of the impending moments. As he rounded the curve of the hallway, he saw his dad looming outside of the office. His dad’s eyes were red and tears were forming.

“You tore it, man,” his father said.

He had heard the words but couldn’t comprehend them, couldn’t believe them. It was torn ACL, a season ending injury.

“It just can’t be happening,” Cole thought in disbelief.

***

Amidst all of the disappointment, it was time to face the facts. The leader of the varsity team was done for the year. The first game of the season, against Plano West, was less than 36 hours away and there was no starting quarterback. It was crunch time.

The coaches, including Coach Erwin and Cole, met in the field house to discuss a replacement quarterback. There was never any doubt in Cole’s mind of who it should be.

“I think it should be Cade,” he stated.

The other coaches around the table nodded in unison. Cole’s younger brother was the one for the job.

That afternoon, sophomore Cade Erwin was called into the coach’s office. Until now, he was supposed to be a starting wide receiver for varsity. Then the news was broken to him. He would be the quarterback in his injured brother’s place.

A rush of emotion went through him as he processed the information. Butterflies went crazy in his stomach yet he felt a sense of calm.

“I was nervous because I knew I wasn’t the quarterback Cole is,” Cade said. “But I was confident in my abilities and was excited to help the team however I needed to.”

Their coach and father, Bryan Erwin, was also confident in his new leader.

“The decision for him to be the new quarterback was based on his leadership abilities and the experience he got last year as a freshman,” Bryan said. “He’s a tremendous leader and is very smart.”

***

As he was getting ready for bed Thursday night, Cade had one more thing to do before he could go to sleep. Quickly, he went into his parents’ room, where his dad was sitting. He asked him if he could wear number 16, the number Cole was supposed to wear.

“I wanted to dedicate my season to Cole,” Cade said. “I wanted to make sure that even though he wouldn’t be on the field, the Marcus quarterback would still be wearing the same number.”

The next morning Cole and Cade prepared to leave for school. It was game day. Their dad entered the room. He told Cole that his brother would honor him this year by wearing his number.

“It felt pretty cool because of the close relationship we have with each other,” Cole said. “He was affected as much as I was by the injury. He felt like by wearing my number, I would be on the field one way or another.”

***

As the Marauders get pumped before their opening game against Plano West, smoke rises around the players in their huddle. Cade Erwin bursts out of the haze, leading his team onto the battle ground. The crowd roars in anticipation of the start of football season. The silver 16 on the back of his red jersey glimmers under the Friday night lights. He runs onto the field, taking a small piece of his injured brother with him.